Vics is a little-known but surprisingly pleasant peak.
- October 22, 2015
- Team: Art
- Peak: Vics Peak, 8332'
- RT: Class 2, 11.5 miles, 2891' gain, 5 hours car-to-car
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
It had been a while since I wandered about in "my" mountains. I needed the head space, and the fall colors were gorgeous. And it was cool- about 45°- Yay! So in a state of bliss, we started off. Naturally, I forgot to turn on the GPS until we got to Boulder Lake. That's where I shot the pano below. |
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We cruised through the huge spruces along the lakeside trail, then hit Boulder Meadows. |
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Sam was also enjoying the day. He prefers it to be cool because he doesn't have the option of shedding his heavy coat. |
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| There's Rapid Peak above our trail. |  |
| There's Rapid again, this time from high on the shoulder of Vics. |  |
And from still higher on Vics, there's the top. |
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Summit. This view is looking sort of easterly. The air was very clear, so we could see the Sawtooths and what I believe was Castle Peak. |
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| We had many reasons to hike this particular peak today, and one of them was to view the damage from the Rapid Fire. This is looking down Buckhorn Creek. The fire appears to have done a lot of hop-scotching. Not too bad. |  |
This is looking north into the heart of the Lick Creek peaks. I think the high point on the right is Storm Peak. |
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And this is looking back from where we had come. You can see Rapid Lake closer, with Boulder Lake in the back. A quick check of the watch (ooops- 4:30!) told us that we had better get moving if we wanted to avoid digging out the headlamps. |
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This is what we call 'False Buckhorn'. You can see it from the valley, but it's not Buckhorn. Buckhorn is behind it. Evening light is special. |
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Map Great hike, mostly on trail (and for this area, a really good trail). Surprisingly scenic peak. We named it for Vics Lake, which sits nearby. |
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